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Goodbye, Larry

Posted Aug 1, 2011
by Aaron Portzline

This isn't my best Larry Larson story, but it's the story that best tells the story of Larry Larson, who is leaving 610-WTVN and the rest of us next month and taking his sunshine to California. (Doesn't that state have enough already?) In 2005-06, Michael Arace was the Dispatch's lead Blue Jackets reporter and I was his dutiful back-up, which meant I had responsibilities away from the pucks. One of them was a weekly Q&A with a compelling high school athlete, a piece we called "Going To School."

Larry loved "Going To School" because it attempted to exemplify all that high school sports should be: not only great athletes, but great competitors and participators, people who rounded out their lives by challenging themselves physically. Some of these kids' stories, if I might say, were incredible.

Standing in the Blue Jackets dressing room one morning, Larry -- decked in his too-thin t-shirt and wearing his too-short shorts with Chuckie Taylor's -- asked who this week's "Going To School" would feature. I gave him the name and Larry did what Larry does when he's excited, which is to step back, reach four rows back with his right hand and fire it forward for a firm handshake.

"Great kid!" Larry said, upon hearing the name.

"You know her?" I asked.

"No, no," Larry said, the handshake still ongoing."But I bet she's a great kid!"

I encourage you to read Arace's well-crafted column in today's editions of the The Dispatch. It's a fond farewell to Larry, who does his final radio show for WTVN-AM (610) this Sunday morning.

My opinion: Columbus needs to celebrate its local legends better than it does. Perhaps that's the reason our city often seems anonymous and singular even to those who live here, that other big cities have created more of a community fabric by celebrating who they are. We don't play the trumpet well enough here in central Ohio, but this is one of those times when we certainly should pick it up.
I met Larry in 1989 when, at 19 years old working for The Dispatch, I went to Grandview Heights High School to do a story on a gymnast named Kerry Farrell. Larry, the former football coach at Grandview, was then the athletic director.

Not unlike most high schoolers talking to the media, Farrell was rather shy. Her best PR agent was Larry, who couldn't stop talking about the kid, her kindness, he good grades, her great family and -- oh, by the way -- her gymnastic talents.

Along the way I've met scores of people who have told me -- no joke, no exaggeration -- that Larry was a "father figure" to them at a difficult time in their lives. You know how volatile and difficult high school can be: life can knock you one way or the other. For so many kids and young adults, Larry has been there for a lean or a prop back up.

For others, he's paved the way to a dream career. Kelsey Webb works the (too-early) Morning Zoo at WNCI, a plum gig. Lori Schmidt is quite possibly the best radio journalist in town at The Fan. They were ushered into the business by Larry.

Larry was never embarrassed by Columbus' reputation as a small college town despite its size and population. But he was never afraid of the city growing up, beginning to realize its potential, either. Larry became a huge Blue Jackets supporter. You want to get him rolling? Drop the old-school Blue Jackets on him -- Jan Caloun, Ted Drury, Frantisek Kucera ... he can go on all day, and often does.

Another Larson story: He's always been fond of one-phrase questions, and one day he approached the always-witty David Vyborny, stuck out his microphone, hit "record" and said: "Patrick Elias!"
Vyborny paused, smirked and said: "I'll take your Patrick Elias and give you Milan Hejduk." And then Vyborny walked away as Larry reveled in the moment.

One last thought: Larry's final radio spot at WTVN will include IndyCar driver Dario Franchitti (no, really) and former Blue Jackets coach Dave King, who, earlier this week, said it would be an "absolute honor to be part of Larry's last show."

The show will also include Faith Washington, a track star at Reynoldsburg. On a show with a world-class driver, a world-renowned hockey mind and countless other surprise guests of note, it's only fitting that the last word should go to Larry's favorite kind of athlete: a talented, bright, engaging high school kid. That, friends, is Larry Larson.

Listen to Larry's Sunday show. Say goodbye with your ears. I'll get to see him at least two or three times a year when the Blue Jackets travel to California or Phoenix (he's road-tripping to Arizona, he said) and he'll take me to lunch. (Right, Larry?) It's the end of an era in Columbus. We'll all need to be a little kinder, a little more pure of heart and a little more engaged and excited about the young people around us to fill the void.

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